This was what I made us for dinner tonight and I haven't had it in years! I forgot how good it is, too.

CHICKEN ROCHAMBEAU

Many, many years ago I ordered this wonderful dish somewhere in New Orleans down in the French Quarter. But for the life of me I can’t remember if it was at Brennan’s, Antoine’s or where. What I DO remember is it was REAL good! This dish was made with a seared chicken breast, a rich brown mushroom wine sauce and a Bernaise sauce to top it off. The two sauces, much to my amazement, were very good together. You have to do a little bit of a juggling act with lots of little pans going on your stove-top all at the same time, but I’ve streamlined the directions as much as possible for you. The end result of your juggling act is well worth it. As I don’t want my sides to have conflicting flavors that will compete with this delicate flavor synergy, I usually serve fairly simple vegetables with this. This dish is not suitable for Induction due to the bit of wine in the brown sauce. You could omit the wine and have the dish, however. Won’t be quite as good, but doable. This dish is suitable for Paleo-Primal if you leave out the wine. Although this dish is higher in calories than most of my recipes, a quick review of the macro-nutrients may outweigh the high-cal price you have to pay to enjoy this dish. Very impressive nutritional stats on this one.

DIRECTIONS: Make your Bernaise sauce and set on rear stove burner that is turned off. If it gets thick while waiting to do remaining steps, add a bit more butter and warm it up slightly on lowest heat possible, whisking constantly. You will have about ½ c. of the Bernaise sauce leftover, but it’s great warmed up with some butter the next day over scrambled eggs or a grilled steak! Butterfly the chicken breasts with a sharp knife. Heat butter and oil in non-stick skillet on high heat and saute chicken until golden on each side and thoroughly done (about 5-6 minutes on a side). While those are browning, in another non-stick skillet, add beef gravy, red wine, parsley, salt and pepper and the drained mushrooms. If you have fresh mushrooms on hand those sliced and sauteed in butter would be of course preferable to canned. I just don't always have them on hand and ALWAYS have canned. Bring the brown sauce to a light boil and then lower heat and simmer to reduce just a bit while you get the plates for plating. To plate, spoon about 1/2 c. of the brown sauce in a tidy puddle on the plate. Set a chicken breast on top. Finally, spoon about ¼ c. Bernaise sauce on the top down the center and serve your favorite vegetables alongside.

Bernaise is actually just Hollandaise sauce with a tarragon-vinegar reduction added. This sauce is Induction friendly, albeit a bit fat/calorie pricey. This amount of sauce is enough for 4 servings of eggs, or for fresh asparagus or a meat entree for 4 people. If any is leftover, I just cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to two days. It’s great on grilled beef, fish and chicken! It will keep a couple of days in the refrigerator. To reuse leftover Bernaise, just melt 1-2 T. butter in a pan and slowly add into the leftover Bernaise a bit at a time. Voilà, it’s smooth and warm for reusing!

DIRECTIONS: This sauce goes together pretty fast, so you really have to have everything else ready before you begin. If you have to wait too long and it thickens, thin with a little butter and warm over lowest heat possible.

Now to start, add vinegar and tarragon to a small saucepan and over medium heat, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer to allow it to reduce to about 1-2 T. In another non-stick skillet over med-low heat, whisk the egg yolks with the splash (1 tsp) lemon juice and 1-2 T. of the butter until smooth. Whisking continuously, add the rest of the butter in small pats, whisking between each pat as it melts. When all butter is melted and smoothly incorporated, add the tarragon-vinegar mixture to the Hollandaise egg-butter mixture and stir well. Serve at once in whatever recipe you are using this for. If you like a thinner Bernaise, just add more melted butter and adjust the nutritional info to reflect that addition.

Well, Diana, I don't think you can make good beef gravy TOTALLY from scratch. I would never attempt with canned or cube bouillon. You really need some beef drippings or stock from some previous beef roast, stew or beef boiling. I add a bit of water to all beef pans and slightly heat, allowing 100% scraping off of all "brown bits" adhering to the pan. Then I freeze the remains and stock in ziploc bags or jars (once cooled), no matter how small an amount (even just a couple tablespoons), so I will have it for such needs. When ready to make the gravy, I just simmer some of that beef flavor/stock to reduce and concentrate (adding some water if I don't have much stock). Then I season with salt, pepper and sometimes the tiniest pinch of garlic powder. Finally I thicken to suit me with gluc or xanthan gum. If serving to company and the color isn't very dark, I'll add a couple drops of Kitchen Bouquet. Because I don't like the ingredients in KB, I don't do that if it's just us for dinner. Color isn't that important to us but rich flavor is.

It was really good and I'm stuffed. I may have to use a 4 oz. chicken breast for my serving next time. Silly me.

Can you even buy them that small? Where I buy mine, they often weigh a whole pound each and I have to cut them in half and then they're still 8 ounces. Mind you, I'm talking about a breast "half", not the two pieces combined. I'd hate to meet a flock of those mutant chickens in a dark alley, LOL.

LOL Ya cracked me up, Linda. I know what you mean about the size of chicken breasts nowadays. It's all those hormones they're feeding 'em. So much so I hear their legs can no longer support the weight and the poor chickens can't even stand up properly anymore. But those producers just care about the almighty buck, not the poor chickens or the conditions they are raised in. I've started buying H-free chickens and chicken breasts at my Natural Grocers (when they're on sale) and theirs are a bit smaller, 4-6 oz. on average. I think the brand is Boulder if I recall.

thanks, Peggy, for the info about the beef stock/gravy. It's so hard for us not to sop up every bit of it whenever we cook a pot roast. By the time I put the gravy on my mashed cauliflower and dh wipes his up with his hc bread, we have a clean pan! Will have to preemptively pour off some stock/drippings and hide before serving.

Ester, besides my ice cube trays, and a dozen or so little jars of chicken and seafood stock and dabs of this and that beef or pork stock/gravy is all I use my refrigerator freezer for! That way I see them every time I get ice, or my frosty drink mug, all day long, and they're at arms reach when I'm cooking. Can't forget I have them. If they went into my chest freezer back in my laundry room, I'd likely forget all about them being there and miss the chance to "beef up" a good recipe with rich flavor.